老年人短时记忆特点的研究

本工作以50名青年作对照,对240名65—90岁正常老人的短时记忆特点进行了研究。结果看到:1.在逻辑故事记忆、图象自由回忆、数字广度和指向记忆四项记忆成绩上,均有随年老而衰退的明显趋势。其中除数字广度外,其他三项记忆在入老年后(65岁至90岁)有继续减退的趋势。在逻辑故事、指向记忆和总分上还见到有65岁和70岁组、75岁和80岁组成绩接近的现象;2.老年人顺背数字成绩较好,对刺激序列中末端刺激的正确回忆率较高,均说明老年人的初级记忆受损较少;3.四项记忆成绩比较,青年组故事分节分最高,然后依次为图象自由回忆、顺背数字和指向记忆,而老年组则无此明显顺序;4.文化因素对记忆成绩有明显影响。     

A differing bidirectional impact on the recognition accuracy of facial expression

This study explored a bidirectional impact on the recognition accuracy of various facial expressions deriving from both the observer and sender in a sample of Chinese participants. A facial manipulation task was used to examine the ability of an observer's facial feedback to modulate the recognition of various facial expressions. Furthermore, the effect of a sender's facial expression with an open or closed mouth on recognition accuracy was investigated. The results showed that only recognition accuracy of a sad facial expression was influenced simultaneously by bidirectional sources from a sender and observer. Moreover, the impact of the unidirectional cue of a sender's facial feature (i.e., mouth openness) on happy and neutral faces was found to influence the recognition accuracy of these faces, but not the observer's bodily state. These findings indicate that the bidirectional impact derived from an observer and sender on facial expression recognition accuracy differs for emotional and neutral expressions.     

Determination of atomic structure of phason planes in the ξ′-Al–Pd–Mn phase

The atomic structures of specific types of linear defects (phason lines) and planar defects (phason planes) in the complex metallic alloy phase ξ′-Al–Pd–Mn have been determined by high-resolution electron microscopy (HREM) and theoretical HREM simulation. The results show that a representational atomic structural model for phason planes can be constructed by introducing a shift between two parts of the perfect crystalline structure using a translation vector of r ?=?(1/2) a ?+?(1/2τ) c . This typical phason plane is normally parallel to the (001) plane of the ξ′-Al–Pd–Mn phase and consists of phason lines, which are arranged side-by-side with their linear direction parallel to the [010] axis. HREM simulations, based on the structural model for both edge-on and inclined types of phason lines, agree well with the experimental results. Taking into account the fact that the structural difference between various curved phason planes arises from the variation in the arrangement of individual phason lines, the atomic structures of the edge-on and inclined phason lines can be used to explain the various curved phason planes frequently observed in the ξ′-Al–Pd–Mn phase.     

Four-phonon model of soft-matter quasicrystals for studying thermodynamics

Four-phonon model of soft-matter quasicrystals is proposed, in which there are three solid phonons and one fluid phonon. With this model, the vibration spectrum of soft-matter quasicrystals can be obtained. The generalized Debye frequency, generalized Debye temperature and the thermodynamic functions of soft-matter quasicrystals are observed. The results on the specific heat of soft-matter quasicrystals demonstrate the contributions of both solid phonons and fluid phonon, respectively.     

The Role of Sketching States in the Stimulation of Idea Generation: An Eye Movement Study

Sketching is widely used in design to generate creative ideas. Design studies present stimuli during sketching to enhance creativity. This study examines the effect of stimuli presented during different sketching states, especially of those presented during the stuck period. It conducted a sketching experiment that enrolled 41 students with an average of 5.7 years’ practice in industrial design. The sketching with stimuli presented at regular intervals, those with stimuli presented during the stuck period, and those without stimulus were compared. Eye movements during the sketching processes were recorded. The attention to stimuli, and the direct applications of stimuli to design ideas, and the idea connection and idea differentiation were analyzed. Participants sketching with stimuli presented during the stuck period had a higher sketching quality, compared with those in other experimental conditions. They fixated longer on stimuli, built more links among related ideas, and had a more differentiated and balanced exploration. This study then proposed the mechanisms of stimuli processing. The stimuli presented at regular intervals were stored and acted as additional memory. The stimuli presented during the stuck period were dissected and acted as supporter, inducing a more creative sketching.     

Building the Better Mental Training Mousetrap: Is Periodization a More Systematic Approach to Promoting Performance Excellence?

Over the past two decades, mental skills training (MST) has experienced a tremendous surge in popularity, yet MST is not without its critics, including some athletes and coaches. Additionally, a number of concerns have arisen about mental training effectiveness, and its ability to maximize athlete development, performance, and peaking. Periodization is a systematic program development and implementation strategy that holds promise for enhancing mental training effectiveness and combating some of the problems currently limiting MST interventions. Thus, the purpose of this conceptual paper was threefold. First, periodization concepts are introduced by demonstrating how they are utilized to systematically guide physical training. Second, strategies to adapt periodization concepts to enhance mental training programs are examined, along with techniques to integrate physical and mental training, including: mental training tool and skill periodization plans and mental training drill menus. Finally, a case study is presented to illustrate how an integrated approach to periodized training that targets both physical and mental skill development can enhance the effectiveness of MST while minimizing implementation problems.     

The development of social value orientation across different contexts

This study aimed to explore Chinese children's social value orientation across different ages and contexts. Revised decomposed games were used to measure the social value orientation of 9‐, 11‐, and 14‐year‐old children and college students as an adult group. About half of them were assigned to the hypothetical context of “equal payment group,” providing equal compensation for participation in the study, and the others to the “real payment group,” who got payment according to their own choices in the games. Results showed that 9‐ and 11‐year‐old children's choices differed between the two contexts: They made more prosocial choices in the hypothetical context, and more competitive choices in the “real payment” context. The 14‐year‐olds’ and adults’ choices were not significantly different in the two contexts. These results may imply that by 14 years of age, children have stable social value orientation, and their behavior reflects this value.     

Brief Sensation Seeking Scale for Chinese – Cultural adaptation and psychometric assessment

International behavioral research requires instruments that are not culturally-biased to assess sensation seeking. In this study we described a culturally adapted version of the Brief Sensation Seeking Scale for Chinese (BSSS-C) and its psychometric characteristics. The adapted scale was assessed using an adult sample (n = 238) with diverse educational and residential backgrounds. The BSSS-C (Cronbach alpha = 0.90) was correlated with the original Brief Sensation Seeking Scale (r = 0.85, p < 0.01) and fitted the four-factor model well (CFI = 0.98, SRMR = 0.03). The scale scores significantly predicted intention to and actual engagement in a number of health risk behaviors, including alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking, and sexual risk behaviors. In conclusion, the BSSS-C has adequate reliability and validity, supporting its utility in China and potential in other developing countries.     

Facial expressions can inhibit the activation of gender stereotypes

ABSTRACT

Using faces as the priming stimuli, the present study explored the influence of facial expressions on the activation of gender stereotypes using a lexical decision paradigm. Experiment 1 explored the activation of gender stereotypes when the facial primes contained only gender information. The results showed that gender stereotypes were activated. In Experiment 2, the facial primes contained both gender category and expression information. The results indicated that gender stereotypes were not activated. Experiment 3 required the participants to make emotion, gender, or impression decisions concerning the facial primes before the lexical decision task. The results showed that gender stereotypes were not activated in emotion and impression decisions conditions, whereas stereotypes were activated in gender decisions condition. These finding suggest that facial expressions can inhibit automatic activation of gender stereotypes, unless the perceivers perform gender categorization processing to prime faces intentionally.